Officials and public representatives were shocked when they opened the ballot boxes for counting at Ambatpally of Mahadevpur mandal in Bhupalpally district on Tuesday.
They found ballot papers eaten away by termites and were incomprehensible. The ballot boxes pertain to Ambatpally and Suraram villages. District Collector and Election Officer Vasam Venkateswarlu said the ballot box from Polling Station No. 44 of Ambatpally had 395 ballot papers. Of these, 105 MPTC votes got damaged and 290 were in normal state. A total of 116 ZPTC votes got damaged and 279 were in normal condition. Similarly, in Suraram PS 39, of the total polled votes of 342, 15 MPTC votes and 14 ZPTC votes got damaged and the rest were in normal condition.
Election observer Akunuri Murali took stock of the situation and sent a report to SEC and a decision was awaited. The normal votes were counted and they were considered for the ZPTC seats of Mahadevpur mandal and Palimela mandal where the Congress won. However, the result for the MPTC seat was held back.